Boulder County commissioner candidate Alan Rosenfeld said Wednesday that he plans to seek a court ruling about whether incumbent Commissioner Cindy Domenico is eligible to run for re-election next year.

Rosenfeld, a Boulder County Democratic activist who lives in Louisville, said he may file a Boulder District Court petition as early as next month in an attempt to get a judge to rule on whether term limits bar Lafayette Democrat Domenico from seeking re-election.

Domenico, who will have served in her District 3 county board seat for about 71/2 years by the end of next year, has said she's been assured by the county attorney's staff that she can run for another four-year term in 2014, despite the two consecutive four-year-term limit that generally applies to Boulder County commissioners.

Domenico

Rosenfeld has said he doesn't think Domenico can run for the seat again, and he predicted on Aug. 1 that "if she wants to run, someone's going to take her to court."

Rosenfeld said during a Wednesday interview that he'll be going to court to seek a declaratory judgment about whether Domenico can run for re-election.

When Domenico was told on Wednesday night of Rosenfeld's plan, she said: "If Alan wants to pursue it, that's fine."

Domenico, who filed her formal candidacy affidavit with the Colorado Secretary of State's Office on Aug. 12, said former Boulder County attorney Larry Hoyt had researched the issue in 2010 and concluded that she could run again in 2014, a legal position she said has been affirmed by current County Attorney Ben Pearlman.

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The county attorneys had noted Colorado attorney generals' opinions in 2000 and 2005 that concluded that whenever an elected county official is initially appointed or elected to serve a partial term, that person is still eligible to run for and serve two consecutive full four-year terms, and Domenico said she's relying on that interpretation of the term limits law.

Rosenfeld, however, said on Wednesday that, ultimately, "it's up to a judge" to settle the issue and that it's a question he said Boulder County Democrats need resolved quickly.

"Even if I weren't running, I think the Democrats need to have this decided," he said.

A Boulder County Democratic Party committee initially appointed Domenico to fill the District 3 Board of County Commissioners seat after the June 2007 death of then-Commissioner Tom Mayer. In November 2008, Domenico won election to the final two years of the four-year term to which Mayer originally was elected in November 2006. She then won re-election, to a full four-year term, in November 2010.

Rosenfeld, an attorney, filed his candidacy affidavit July 22 but said Aug. 1 that he was still in the preliminary stages of considering whether to proceed with his candidacy for the seat. This week, he announced he had decided to be a candidate.

"There are so many important issues on which the county commissioners affect the quality of our lives," Rosenfeld said. "I have been working for social justice for my entire life and this will be the continuation of that path."

Rosenfeld said his 30-year-old national law practice represents battered women and mothers of sexually abused children in high-conflict custody cases.

No other candidates have yet announced or filed paperwork for the District 3 commissioner's seat up for election next year. While each of Boulder County's three commissioners has to live within a specific geographic district, their seats are filled in countywide elections.

Rosenfeld said this week that one of the focuses of his campaign will be his pledge to improve the quality of, and people's access to, justice in the Boulder County court system.

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